An Invitation to Joy: The Divine Journey to Human Flourishing

By Daniel J. Denk and Christopher J. H. Wright

Jesus came to bring joy to the world. What happened?

In a world full of suffering, the declaration that God wants us to be joyful can sound tone-deaf at best or hypocritical at worst. In An Invitation to Joy, Daniel J. Denk invites readers to cast off hopelessness and rediscover joy. Yet, as Denk reminds us, “we don’t find joy by pursuing joy; we find it by pursuing something else,” namely, the kingdom of God. This joy is not naive optimism but a profound sense of purpose and peace. 

Throughout his reflections, Denk approaches the topic of Christian joy with sensitivity and nuance, supporting his argument with Scripture and theological scholarship. But An Invitation to Joy is not primarily academic—Denk is just as likely to share his personal experience or his favorite passages from Lord of the Rings, all in an easy manner akin to a friendly conversation over coffee. Life-affirming, empathetic, and, above all, joyful, An Invitation to Joy is a salve for the wounds of the world-weary. If you have lost your joy, this book will help you find it again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Release date: Apr 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9781467466462

Daniel J. Denk

Daniel J. Denk is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. Dan has directed ministry with university students in the United States as well as nineteen countries in Eastern Europe, and he has ministered in forty-five countries around the world. He also served as theological director with InterVarsity.?He now mentors younger men and stays young himself with the help of his grandchildren.

Book preview

1

God Invites Us to Joy

Frederick Buechner tells the story of a road trip from New York to Pennsylvania for a speaking engagement. He was determined to stay in the present and to focus on what he was seeing. After a while he started noticing the trees:

They were in full summer foliage. They were greener than I could remember ever having seen trees before. The sun was in them. The air was stirring them. As I drove by, they waved their leafy branches at me like plumes. They beckoned. They reached out…. They waved in the only way trees have of waving and caught my attention so completely that other thoughts vanished from my head, including my thoughts about them. I didn’t think about them. I just saw them. I didn’t put words to what was happening. I just let it happen….

The trees are always so glad to see us. That was the best way I could find to say it. They waved their branches like flags in a parade, hailing me as I passed by as though I was some mighty spirit. They looked as if they had lined up for miles along the New York Thruway to greet me, and after a while I started waving back at them from time to time as if they too were mighty spirits and it was I who was greeting them.¹

As I have said, I am on a journey of joy. On this journey I have searched carefully through the biblical accounts to try to understand what they have to say about joy. And I have been surprised, pleasantly surprised, to find that the Scriptures have a great deal to say about our yearning for joy and the expression of joy in our lives, as well as what it is and where to find it.

The Old Testament is bursting with joy. Biblical Hebrew has several terms for joy and thirteen roots for words that express the exuberance of life of the people of God in response to God’s greatness and goodness toward them.² These Hebrew words, as expressions of joy, are often translated into English as merriment, gladness, happy, laughter, wonder, exuberance, exulting, praise, worship, shout, sing, delight, and blessed.

Even dancing becomes a legitimate expression for joy, as in you have turned for me my mourning into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy (Ps. 30:11).³

The Natural World Invites Us to Joy

The poetry of the Hebrew Bible represents the whole of creation as already caught up in the dance of joy and wonder of the Creator. The earth is full of praising and rejoicing. When the world was first made, we are told that the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7). The mountains and the hills continue to burst forth with joy. The water in the brook is bubbling with laughter. The trees of the forest are clapping their hands. It is all a marvelous invitation for us to join the created world in this procession of gladness and praise. It is as though the whole creation is saying, What are you waiting for? Don’t you get it? You people of faith, you children of God, surely you would want to join in the dance as well!

The psalmist repeats the same joyful picture over and over again:

The pastures of the wilderness overflow,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain,

they shout and sing together for joy. (Ps. 65:12–13)

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

let the field exult, and everything in it!

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy

before the LORD, for he comes,

for he comes to judge the earth. (Ps. 96:11–13a)

Let the rivers clap their hands;

let the hills sing for joy together

before the LORD, for he comes

to judge the earth. (Ps. 98:8–9a)

In Genesis 1 we are left with the inescapable conclusion that the Creator God takes joy in his creative work. He steps back and considers all that he has made and declares that it is very good (Gen. 1:31). Now the whole creation is pictured as rejoicing in God’s goodness (Isa. 44:23; 49:13). God’s creative work, and his continued care of his creation, is such that the world is full of abundance and color and design and liveliness. Because of this, the Hebrew poets could personify even the inanimate world as singing and dancing and clapping and shouting with joy.

No wonder Buechner, in his story, began to feel that the trees were waving to him. Have you ever waved back at the trees? Have you ever been moved to shout for joy, to clap your hands, or to sing of the wonders of God’s beauty? I remember driving down the highway in Northern Michigan one autumn. The oranges and golds of the leaves were so lush, striking, and bountiful that I found myself praising God out loud, with tears streaming down my face. I was moved, as in the Keith Green song, to say, O Lord, you’re beautiful, your face is all I see. I have a neighbor who has a glorious display of rose vines. From time to time she puts up a sign for passersby that says, Stop and smell the roses. I do. Indeed, we would all do well to take time to smell the roses, to notice the many shades of color, and to rejoice in their intricate